RECIPES

GREEK CHICKPEA SALAD

My Mom came to visit over the weekend.  We had lots of girly fun and backyard relaxing time.   She’s like me and loves to eat fresh amazing salads.  Seriously I love salads.  Childhood Laura is cringing.  Childhood Laura used to scream at the sight of vegetables.  Oh, how times have changed.  Veggies are so good and they make my butt look smaller.  So it’s a win-win!

Saturday was hot and we were getting hungry for lunch.  So I thought it was a perfect time to make this Greek Chickpea Salad recipe that I had my eye on.  Luckily, I have a ton of ripe cherry tomatoes and basil in my garden.  As my garden starts to grow and produce I start looking for recipes or create my own to use everything up.  I can’t let any yummy garden goodness go to waste!

Mom was super excited to try this recipe with me.

We started with our vinaigrette.  You can whisk these ingredients together in a bowl, but I love my salad dressing shaker.  It makes making dressings so easy with the measurements marked on the container.  We added red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, dried oregano, and a pinch of salt, closed the lid and shook away.

Those of you who aren’t wild about the taste of mustard go ahead and add it, don’t be scared.  You can’t taste the mustard, and it works as an emulsifier to blend the oil and vinegar together to a creamy state.

Next, I added some minced shallot to the dressing container, about a tablespoon, and shook again.

All done with the vinaigrette, let’s start the salad.

Take 2 cans of chickpeas, rinse them well, and add them to your salad bowl.  I love this salad bowl by the way.  Its $3.99 at IKEA and so handy!

Add 2 cups of cherry tomatoes sliced in half.  These tomatoes came from my garden.  I’m so proud of these little cuties.  Everything tastes better when you grow it yourself.

Next, add a 1/2 cup of sliced pitted kalamata olives, then add 2 cups of cucumber quartered and sliced.

An English cucumber is ideal because of its thin skin and less noticeable seeds.  They are usually about a foot long which is about 2 cups sliced up & perfect for this recipe.  You can find English cucumbers at the grocery store usually in shrink wrap.  If you can’t find an English cucumber you can go with a regular cucumber, but you might get a more watery result with more seeds.

Pour the vinaigrette over the salad mixture and gently toss it all together.

Now add some crumbled feta cheese.  At least a half of cup, but more if you love feta!!  Slice or tear up a bunch of fresh basil leaves.  I used 15-20 leaves because we LOVE basil and my basil is growing like crazy in my garden!

Now give the salad another stir and add some fresh ground pepper.  I love fresh ground pepper on everything.

This salad is so quick and easy to make and not to mention filling!  It’s a perfect summer vegetarian meal.  I love healthy food like this, you feel satisfied but still clean and good afterwards.  This recipe is summer in a bowl.

Greek Chickpea Salad

Ingredients

Instructions for the Greek vinaigrette:

  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbs Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbs minced shallot
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • pinch of salt

Ingredients for the salad:

  • 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
  • 1/2 cups kalamata olives, sliced in half
  • 2 cups cucumber, quartered and sliced
  • 1/2 cup kalamata olives, halved
  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta -feel free to use more!

Instructions

Instructions for the dressing:

  • In a small bowl whisk vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, oregano, shallot, and salt together, or shake ingredients together in a salad dressing shaker.

Instructions for the salad:

  • Add chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, and olives to a bowl, pour in dressing, and gently mix together.  
  • Tear or slice basil leaves and add to the bowl along with crumbled feta cheese, and gently mix again.  Season with fresh ground pepper and more salt to taste if necessary.
     

Enjoy this salad, it’s so filling and refreshing!

 

Laura

Join the Conversation

Leave a Comment